Giant extinct great auk replica sells for £25,000

A replica of a giant penguin-like bird which became extinct nearly 200 years ago has sold at auction for £25,000.

The great auk was hunted to extinction in the mid-19th Century for its feathers to make pillows.

In the 1920s, to meet demand from collectors for specimens, Rowland Ward Ltd started producing replicas of the extinct bird using razorbill feathers.

The black and white bird sold for £25,000 at auction in Gloucestershire, smashing its expected £8,000 estimate.

Measuring about 80cm (2ft 7in) tall, the stubby-winged and bulbous-billed great auk used to be found all across the north Atlantic.

But by about 1850, the flightless seabird was extinct with the last two known specimens hunted down by fishermen on Eldey Island, off the coast of Iceland.

This replica, displayed in a glass case and mounted on sand and faux rocks, was purchased in 1922 by aviator and ornithologist Captain Vivian Hewitt.

It was part of a collection from the David Wilson Library of Natural History, and was bought by a taxidermy collector in France.

Auctioneer Chris Albury, from Dominic Winter Auctions, said the "super-fine replica" had caused a "sensation" in the saleroom.